It began last summer when Halie Weber went to adopt a dog. Then 16, Halie and her mother were trying to choose from a pair of pooches at Lake County Animal Services when they learned that the one left behind would be euthanized the next day — along with at least a dozen more.

"We ended up taking both, but we were just shocked that so many animals were being killed," Brenda Weber said. "As soon as we stepped out of the building, I turned to Halie and said, 'Somebody needs to do something.' "

Halie didn't hesitate. "Mom," she said, "we are somebody."

The next thing Weber knew, her daughter had a meeting scheduled with their local state senator.

It turned out to be the start of a campaign that, in just six months, has lobbied seven local cities and the Lake County Board of Commissioners; delved into millage rates and budgetary issues; formed a certified nonprofit organization; and helped rescue, rehabilitate and find new homes for some 60 dogs and dozens of cats.

Halie Weber's Misfit Animal Rescue now consumes much of the family's time, including that of her parents, both full-time firefighters, and her 14-year-old kid sister, Mattie. In addition, Halie, now 17, is a dual-enrollment student who is home-schooled and attends Lake-Sumter State College, hoping to be a veterinarian. She also manages her own business breeding Nigerian Dwarf goats and making soap from their milk.

"Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day," she admits.

In the still-rural stretches of Lake County, Halie's passion for animals isn't unusual. But her headlong dive into public policy is.

"To hear her delivery, you wouldn't know her age except by how she looks," said Leesburg City Manager Jay Evans. "She's a very effective speaker, and the City Commission agreed with several of her points and actually passed a resolution supporting her proposal. … I expect we'll be seeing more of Miss Halie, whether it be on this issue or perhaps in elected office."

Halie's primary goal is to prevent the need for the ongoing euthanasia of pets.

"I want those 14 adoptable animals to stop dying every day at Lake County Animal Services because of humans' mistakes," she said. "And the only way to reduce the number of dying animals is through sterilization. We need a low-cost spay-and-neuter program here, and we need to make it easier for people to adopt. Our adoption fees are at least twice as much as surrounding counties, and we do nothing in the way of advertising."

Marjorie Boyd, longtime director of Lake County Animal Services, disagrees with Halie's statistics but not her intentions. Yes, she said, Lake County's adoption fees are higher than most: $75 to $90 for a cat, $95 to $150 for a dog, depending on size, gender and what sort of immunization each needs. But Boyd said the fees cover services that other counties do not, such as microchip identification, licensing, immunizations and tests for such serious health conditions as canine parvovirus and feline AIDS.

"I've got 15,000 to 18,000 animals coming in each year, and we have one of the lower budgets for the size of our county," Boyd said. "Orange has a budget seven times as large as mine."

Halie counters: "A lot of the problem is that we don't have a [public] low-cost spay-neuter program in Lake County. Orange County does. Marion County, Pasco County, Seminole County — every county around us does. So they'll spend the money to euthanize the animals but not to fix them so we don't have to shelter and euthanize so many in the first place. It's crazy."

Needed: pet parents

On the family's "Someday Came Ranch" outside Groveland, Halie currently has seven dogs of her own, 16 "last chance" dogs she rescued before they were euthanized at the county shelter and 25 cats. For all but the initial seven, Halie will feed and nurture them to health only to try to find loving homes elsewhere. Father Kent Weber has built a series of kennels for the animals, and the whole family will spend weekends outside, say, Tractor Supply Co. in Eustis to recruit prospective pet parents.

"It's actually nice to see someone her age get so involved," said Michelle Turner, Tractor Supply's assistant manager. "Mom, Dad, the little sister, Halie — they'll all sit out there in the cold this time of year, and they're usually here for a good part of the day. She seems to have had quite a bit of success."

But adoption is the easy part. What tears at Halie's heart is the rescue — and all the ones she must leave behind. She targets the large dogs, the ones least likely to be chosen by others, and sometimes those with the cruelest histories.

Like Dozer. A pit-bull mix estimated to be 4 or 5 years old — it's hard to tell because so many of his teeth had to be pulled — Dozer was rescued when Halie spotted him at the shelter in September. Part of his lip had been bitten off, scars crisscrossed his body — probably from being used as a "bait" dog in fights — and his feet were deformed from inadequate nutrition.

When he saw Halie, he wagged his tail so vigorously it slapped the side of his head. When she sat down to pet him, he curled up in her lap and licked her face.

"Sometimes we just ask ourselves, 'OK, this one has teeth missing, he's on antibiotics, he's heartworm-positive, he's a mess — and meanwhile there are puppies being put to sleep. Why do we have this dog?' " Halie admits. "But, you know, there must be some reason. Something has to be about him because his heart is so sweet."

'They are lives'

Seven cities in Lake County have passed Halie's suggested proclamation supporting the development of a low-cost spay-neuter program, and some have endorsed at least researching a mandatory spay-neuter ordinance.

In early fall, when a dozen dogs were scheduled to die in a single day at the shelter, Halie passed out their photos to county commissioners.

The move earned her a rebuke from one politician, but Halie doesn't apologize.

"I wanted them to see these weren't just statistics," she said. "They are lives."

Leslie Campione, chairman of the Lake County Board of Commissioners, said she supports Halie's mission but that there's no money for it at the moment.

"I believe she makes a very good case that a low-cost spay-neuter program would ultimately lower animal-shelter costs and decrease euthanasia rates," Campione wrote in an email. "I would like to work with local veterinarians, volunteers and animal owners to promote voluntary registration of pets and donations to fund such a program in the future."

Halie isn't inclined to sit back and wait.

"I do worry about her sometimes," Brenda Weber said. "She'll go to the shelter and love on a dog, only to see it die later. I went with her once, and I had to go outside and cry — and I'm a paramedic."

Halie knows it's a common reaction.

"I do realize it's a lot to take on," she said. "I have friends through 4-H who just tell me I'm crazy. I have to go in there knowing 10 dogs are going to die, and I can only take two of them. But guess what? If nobody goes in there, then they're all going to die."